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New Airstrikes Hit ISIS Stronghold of Mosul; Parents of American ISIS Hostage Make Plea; Biden Address Ukraine Crisis; Investigators Focus on Brown's Boyfriend; One Hundred Ten Measles Cases In 16 States; Mandatory Vaccines Prevent Measles Spread; Plane Crashes Caught On Camera

Aired February 07, 2015 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, everyone. It is the 11:00 Eastern hour of the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and we begin right now.

Happening right now in the NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The sound of shells slamming into Donetsk I was woken by this morning and now as dusk falls, we're hearing again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The sounds of war in Ukraine this morning as talks fail to produce a peace deal.

Plus, new air strikes against a major ISIS stronghold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Behind me is the most important piece of territory that ISIS still controls in northern Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The U.S. now trying to gather intel on whether American ground troops should help retake Iraq's largest city.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin with new coalition attacks against ISIS in Iraq and Syria -- forces unleashing more than a dozen air strikes targeting the militants in Iraq's second largest city of Mosul. For weeks, ISIS fighters have maintained their defenses there, and now the coalition is bombarding militant targets with increased frequency and intensity. A total of 26 air strikes in Syria and Iraq overnight, according to U.S. Central Command.

Phil Black is on the ground for us outside Mosul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BLACK: On this day, overhead, has been the constant sound of aircraft -- fast-moving aircraft. We have seen what appears to be a slower- moving, larger reconnaissance aircraft of some kind and then frequently, repeatedly, often very close to one another, the sound of large blasts in the distance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Will a ground offensive against ISIS in Mosul include American troops? CNN has learned the U.S. military is gathering as much intelligence as possible to determine whether it should recommend American troops accompany Iraqi forces to help retake the city.

Also, new this morning, we're learning ISIS has blown up a bridge leading into the oil rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk possibly to prevent an advance by Kurdish forces. Just over a week ago, ISIS used that bridge to launch a surprise attack on the city, gaining a stronghold there.

And in Baghdad, suicide bombings have killed at least 36 and wounded nearly 100 more. In separate incidents, two bombers targeted a busy market and a restaurant in the Iraqi capital. The attacks come just hours ahead of the Iraqi prime minister's decision to lift a long- standing curfew in the city.

Meantime the family of an American hostage held by ISIS is pleading with her captors to contact them privately. The parents of 26-year- old Kayla Mueller say they hope their daughter is still alive. ISIS is claiming that she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike on an ISIS target. But the U.S. and Jordan say there is no evidence that she is dead.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Prescott, Arizona 100 miles north of Phoenix, for us. Kyung, what is being said there?

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What this town is trying to come to grips with is what is a lie and what is truth? It's very, very difficult to tell. The parents released a statement and it's something that's very interesting, Fredricka, because it's not just a public statement, it's a statement directly to Kayla Mueller's captors.

Here's what it says. It says, "To those in position of responsibility for holding Kayla. In adherence to your warnings and out of concern for Kayla's safety we have been silent until now. After going to extraordinary efforts to keep Kayla's name out of the media for so long by securing the cooperation of journalists throughout the world her name was released. This news leaves us concerned yet we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive. You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and well-being remains your responsibility."

It comes from her parents. They put their name on it. They have not spoken in front of cameras because, Fredricka, as you can imagine, they're still trying to weigh that very difficult threat. ISIS a year ago, more than a year ago, told them if her name got out, she would be killed, but since they released her name, they just don't know what to do right now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Heartbreaking, of course, people are wishing the best for her.

Kyung Lah thank you so much.

As we heard a moment ago the U.S.-led coalition has launched new attacks on ISIS in Mosul. Separately, Jordan mounted more air strikes against the terror group today. The latest targets are in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqah, Syria. Activists on the ground report that one strike killed 47 ISIS fighters.

Joining me now, Nicholas Burns; he's a former undersecretary of state and was a U.S. ambassador to NATO, among many other things. He now teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School. Good to see you.

NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Thank you Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, you know, I wonder is a greater impact being made now that Jordan is stepping up its air strikes and making it quite clear that it is still very angry about the killing of its pilot?

BURNS: I think this is certainly going to help the international coalition. This coalition needs to accelerate the air campaign against is, not just in Iraq, but as you've just said, in places like Raqqah in Syria, which of course, is the heart of the ISIS operation. As long as the Arab/Sunni Arab state can now coalesce -- Jordan, Saudi Arabia, U of AE, Kuwait, and if Turkey can join them and join the U.S.-led alliance it will be much more effective in pursuing the military campaign, but also in the very important effort to try to isolate ISIS within the Sunni Arab community in the Middle East.

So WHITFIELD: what country can apply the kind of pressure necessary to Turkey to encourage Turkey to take a stand to be more engaged?

BURNS: Well, certainly that's partly the responsibility of the United States, given the fact that we have traditionally had a close alliance with Turkey and Turkey is part of the NATO alliance. I think it also is incumbent on the new Saudi leadership, King Salman, and the others who have taken new leadership positions in Riyadh to close ranks with the Turks, close ranks with Qataris if that's possible because the threat of ISIS is to the heart of the Sunni community and all their countries. It's the thousands of young people leaving these countries to fight with ISIS. So the battle has to be not just military, it has to be both psychological and political and it really has to be one by these moderate Sunni countries.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like you're saying the only way to really take control of this is to handle it militarily?

BURNS: No. I think that's not the case. I think in the short term, what the international coalition has put in place, effectively, is a campaign to contain ISIS and they've been effective in keeping ISIS away from the Iraqi Kurdistan, away from Mosul and Haditha Dams.

But in the long term, the only way to defeat ISIS is through a combination both of military measures, economic measures to dry up the financing support to ISIS itself and frankly political -- strong political support by the Arab countries to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the Sunni population who are funding ISIS, some of them, and, of course, providing the young people who take up ranks with ISIS itself.

WHITFIELD: And then I want to ask you about a terror arrest that happened primarily in the U.S. this week. We're talking about five men arrested here and one abroad, all Bosnian immigrants, all accused of aiding terror organizations overseas. How much of a surprise does this come to you?

BURNS: Well, I think it's indicative of the fact that we know from fighting al Qaeda, after 9/11, and the Europeans know from fighting so many of the indigenous European groups in the 70s and 80s the fight is not just military. It's law enforcement, it's judicial cooperation, it's economic cooperation to work to make sure that these groups can't have access to our financial system.

The fight against terrorism has to be comprehensive. It's good to see that the American authorities, of course, are focused on this.

WHITFIELD: Nicholas Burns -- thanks so much. Always good to see you -- appreciate it.

BURNS: Thank you.

Vice President Joe Biden says quote/unquote "America is being tested." We'll show you what else he had to say about the crisis in eastern Europe.

And Bobbi Kristina Brown continues to fight for her life a week after she was found unresponsive in the bathtub of her home. And now we've learned police are focusing their investigation on her boyfriend. Find out why -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America and Europe are being tested. President Putin has to understand that as he has changed, so has our focus. We have moved from resetting this important relationship to reasserting the fundamental bedrock principles on which European freedom and stability rest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That was Vice President Joe Biden speaking in just the last couple of hours at an international security conference in Germany. He was addressing the crisis in Ukraine and the attempts to work out a renewed peace deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

On the streets of Ukraine, eastern Ukraine, in fact, more artillery fire between separatist rebels and Ukraine forces today. After five hours of talks at the highest levels, there appear to be little progress on a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Russian leader Vladimir Putin met with German Chancellor Merkel and France's President Hollande in Russia. They're trying to rejuvenate a peace deal that has been in tatter since it was signed in September. But once the talks ended Chancellor Merkel said the prospects for peace were uncertain.

Nick Paton Walsh is in Donetsk. So Nick, with a push to get a new peace deal in place is there any sense that some peace might be in sight?

WALSH: It depends on what kind of peace (inaudible) out here Fredricka.

Now obviously you might be able to hear on our microphone the sound of the shelling that's been impacting on the outskirts of Donetsk. Pretty much since it woke us this morning through until periodically tonight where it's picked up again quite intensely -- closer towards the city center where I am standing. Frankly I have heard since I've been coming here over the past sort of eight or nine months.

But that, of course, is in stark contrast to the push for some sort of negotiated settlement. There are a remarkable spectacle of the leaders of two of Europe's biggest economies going to the Kremlin cap in hand, almost, trying to get Vladimir Putin to sign up to a deal that frankly he already signed.

The Minsk Agreement was of course being signed by the separatist were backed by Russia. They've been trying to implement a ceasefire here and, of course, that fell apart very quickly as you mentioned. And in the last month or so we have seen an increasingly emboldened separatist force here which Ukrainians and Americans say is staffed and equipped by the Russian military.

Perhaps behind even, maybe on the receiving end of some of the blasts you're hearing here, though, because it does appear that those blasts are hitting separatist held territory here in their self-declared capital Donetsk. With that kind of backdrop how could you really expect any peace to be lasting? There is a clear sense of escalating violence here and frankly I would imagine panic among some diplomats how to diffuse the situation.

It is supposed to being calmed down by the talks but since they began, frankly, we have simply heard the shelling get louder -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Nick, it sounds like during your talk we've heard probably four shellings. So it's coming with quite the regularity. I see cars still driving behind you. In fact, let's take a listen right now to see how often we do continue to hear this.

WALSH: Fredricka, it is periodic so unfortunately it's hard to know exactly when you'll hear the next burst. But it comes at moments where you'll hear 10 shells land at a time. Often they're far out to the outskirts of town that could be clashes around the airport where we were ourselves last week -- very heavy fighting. It's been there for months.

But then of course some of the shells and it seems like some of these are grand rocket systems, multiple rockets launched at the same time are coming closer and closer towards the city center, that's certainly the perception many residents we talked to here. They feel more under threat than they have been in the past.

And, of course, that you have to ask what is the strategy behind this if it is the Ukrainian military, which is the most logical solution. Are they trying to up the pressure on the separatists while talks are happening? It's been pretty clear I think that Moscow and the separatist backers aren't really perturbed by the threat of force. They've carried on regardless and regardless of the impact that sanctions have had on Russia's economy.

But we are faced here Fredricka with very violent situation around this, the capital, the separatists declared for themselves and as it seems no real concrete result at all coming out of those Moscow talks -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for that. Be safe. We'll check back with you.

So a bit more now of Vice President Biden addressing the crisis in Ukraine a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We must judge the existing agreement at Minsk and any future agreement with Russia by the actions Russia takes on the ground, not by the paper they sign. And given Russia's recent history, we need to judge it by its deeds, not its words. Don't tell us, show us, President Putin.

Too many times President Putin has promised peace and delivered tanks, troops, and weapons. So we will continue to provide Ukraine with security assistance, not to encourage war, but to allow Ukraine to defend itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me from Boston now is retired Brigadier General Kevin Ryan. He spent many years working in Russia and surrounding areas including as the U.S. defense attache to Moscow. Good to see you.

BRIG. GEN. KEVIN RYAN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE ATTACHE TO MOSCOW: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So you heard from our reporter there, Nick Paton Walsh, reporting from the region and you could still hear the shelling. Does that kind of underscore to you that these talks are at a standstill?

RYAN: Yes. I think the talks need to go on, but certainly they're not going to produce a result or an end to this conflict while Ukraine and Russia are still fighting over where the eventual border or line of control is going to be between the two countries. And Russia and Ukraine have not decided where that line is yet, so the fighting will continue.

WHITFIELD: So what kind of leverage can France and Germany really have in these talks and how can they bring Vladimir Putin to the table?

RYAN: Well, I think the leverage they have is economic primarily. They are both on record as saying that they are not in favor of sending military assistance directly in to the conflict, so they have substantial economic and political leverage in the European theater.

Russian president Putin needs allies. His allies' list looks like a rogue's gallery of North Korea, China and Iran. He needs reputable allies and partners and at the moment he has none. I think Germany and France offer themselves as that if he's willing to change his policies and behavior in Ukraine.

WHITFIELD: And what would be the changes in policies that he could possibly agree to?

RYAN: Well, first, to be to stop supporting the separatists in eastern Ukraine, to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine. I think that's something that everybody agrees has to be the first step.

WHITFIELD: So if Germany and the U.S. Are both saying that militarily that's not the answer, you know, the military approach, and its sanctions potentially does give leverage, it doesn't seem as though that has helped so far. Why is there such great hope that sanctions could actually make a difference?

RYAN: Well, I think it's -- it's the tool or the lever of convenience right now. What we don't have is a military lever. At the moment, you have recommendations that are being floated around to provide military assistance to the Ukrainian military and let's be clear what that's about. It's not about armed sales and helping to train the Ukrainians during a time of peace. It's about providing them weapons and ammunition that will go directly to the front in the fight between Ukraine and Russia. And while I would never preclude that kind of support or recommending that at some point down the road to the president, I think it's ill advised at this time because at this time, under these circumstances Ukraine cannot defeat Russia. As long as Russia is willing to put troops on the ground in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine will lose. What we're fighting about now is where the line of control is going to be.

WHITFIELD: Brigadier General Kevin Ryan -- thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.

RYAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Other news we're following, the daughter of Whitney Houston continues to fight for her life. It has been a week since she was found unresponsive in her home. Nick Valencia has the latest on the investigation into her death. NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right -- Fred.

Investigators are now (inaudible) to a specific person inside Bobbi Kristina's residence at the time of the incident. We'll tell you exactly who that is after the break.

You're watching the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A brand new development now in the investigation involving Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. The 21-year-old is still in a medically induced coma one week after she was discovered face down in a tub of water in her home.

National reporter Nick Valencia is tracking the developments. What's going on?

VALENCIA: Well, we know that the investigators have now turned their attention specifically to Nick Gordon, quietly opened up an investigation.

WHITFIELD: Her boyfriend.

VALENCIA: Her boyfriend -- the man she called her husband. They want to know exactly how she ended up in this bathtub full of water and there's also injuries that they don't have an explanation for.

You heard Fredricka just say Bobbi Kristina Brown is still in a medically-induced coma. What we don't know is what her current condition is. As recently as Monday we were told that the family had been told by the hospital that they should prepare for the worst but the hospital has been very tight lipped about this information not releasing anything beyond. And now, a source close to the investigation saying that police are looking very closely at her boyfriend, Nick Gordon.

WHITFIELD: And there's Cicely Houston, Whitney Houston's mom getting out of the vehicle there.

VALENCIA: Correct.

WHITFIELD: So a lot of family members have gathered now at the hospital. What about Nick Gordon? Because I understand when Bobbi Kristina was at the other hospital he was not allowed to be at that hospital.

VALENCIA: Correct -- there's a restraining order.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- with another family member.

VALENCIA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: What's happening now at a different hospital? VALENCIA: We don't know where he's at physically right now. We do

know that he was spotted by local media at Emory University Hospital. He did show up briefly but because of this restraining order he wasn't allowed in the first hospital where Bobbi Kristina was hospitalized.

Now, police they want to talk to him. They think that he may be able to glean more information about exactly these injuries that Bobbi Kristina sustained and what happened in those hours that led up to her being found in the bathtub.

WHITFIELD: Surely police had a conversation, initial conversations with him and the other young man who found Bobbi Kristina, but now it's another level of questions that will be asked.

VALENCIA: Correct. Because we -- last week I asked the Roswell Police Department is everyone cooperative, are you talking to everyone in the home. They said there's four in the home. They know that Bobbi Kristina lived there, Nick Gordon as well as two others, including (inaudible) and perhaps his girlfriend.

So they said everyone in that home was cooperative. Now perhaps, though, they've notched this investigation up. We're hearing from a source close to this investigation that all eyes are on Nick Gordon right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bottom line, still a sad situation because Bobbi Kristina still on life support.

VALENCIA: Absolutely. Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Keep us posted.

Meantime should the government decide whether you vaccinate your child? Coming up, I'll speak to a mom who says it should be her decision and a doctor who says vaccinations are too vital a tool to ignore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, hello again, everyone. Good morning. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the NEWSROOM. It's the bottom of the hour.

Should parents be forced to vaccinate their children for measles, a highly contagious respiratory disease that spreads through coughing and sneezing? Those who say yes to mandatory vaccines argue the shots are a vital tool for stopping the potentially deadly disease from spreading.

Those who say no worry about potential health risks from the measles vaccine and say the government should not be allowed to make the decision for them. Mississippi is one of only two states that do not permit religious or philosophical exemptions to its vaccination program.

The other is West Virginia. In Mississippi, a child must complete the state's immunization schedule which involves five vaccinations including measles or else that child cannot enroll in school. Only children with certain medical conditions can enroll without getting vaccinated.

Lindey Magee lives in Mississippi and opposes the state's policy on mandatory vaccinations. She is co-director of Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights and joins us now via Skype. Good to see you.

LINDEY MAGEE, CO-DIRECTOR, MISSISSIPPI PARENTS FOR VACCINE RIGHTS: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Miss McGhee, you oppose the mandatory nature of Mississippi's law, but you've said that you're not opposed to all vaccines. Your 14-year-old son has had all of his shots except TDAP, which protects against tenuous and diphtheria and whooping cough, right?

But your 6-year-old daughter has had only one vaccination in her lifetime and that's Hepatitis B. So what's behind the different decisions that you've made for your kids?

MAGEE: Well, my son is fully vaccinated with the exception of the new TDAP booster. My daughter had a reaction in the hospital before we left and had to be readmitted after the Hep B vaccination.

I'm not anti-vaccine, but our schedule looks like 49 doses of 15 vaccines before kindergarten and drug companies, the vaccine manufacturers along with the doctors have no accountability. We can't sue them in civil courts when vaccines cause injury or death and vaccination is a medical.

And so when injury or death happens there's no recourse. So as long as there's no accountability, I feel like parents together with their doctors, should have some flexibility in our schedule.

WHITFIELD: OK, so it's not necessarily that you are against mandatory vaccinations. It sounds like you're against the scheduling. Perhaps you as a parent want a little bit more leeway to make a decision as to when your child would be vaccinated?

MAGEE: That's correct. And Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, we are a couple thousand educated families and most of those parents do want to vaccinate their children. The law here in Mississippi is so oppressive, that we have pediatricians, who are terminating their clients whenever we veer from the CDC recommended schedule.

WHITFIELD: So what about the concern, however, that many parents have expressed that if I vaccinate my child and someone else doesn't vaccinate their child and our children do interact and something is passed on, then it means or, you know, the parent of the vaccinated child is looking at other parents saying, they're not taking responsibility for all children, they're only thinking about their own. What do you say about that argument? MAGEE: Well, my responsibility first and foremost is to my child. But the thing that I say to that is that we have an entire generation of adults who are not current on their vaccines. I haven't had an MMR vaccine since I was a child and those vaccines wane. So why is it that our children have to bear that burden when we have an entire population of adults who are not vaccinated?

WHITFIELD: But then children are more vulnerable, isn't the argument being made by some parents that if their child gets sick, as a result of a contagious disease that was passed on from another child, that that only underscores the vulnerability and the lack of protections that have been made?

MAGEE: Right, but if I choose not to vaccine my child against MMR, then I'm responsible for my child and like if we look at the MMR, I was on the California Health Department site, it looks like about two- thirds or 66 percent of the outbreaks in California right now are in adults.

So we're focusing on soccer moms who aren't vaccinating their children when why children? Why aren't we looking at the fact that adults aren't being vaccinated as well?

WHITFIELD: All right. We're actually going to talk to an infectious disease doctor coming up and ask him that question too. Lindey Magee, appreciate your time. Thank you.

MAGEE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So is there too much leeway in general between states and as it pertains to vaccinations? I will be asking that infectious disease specialist joining us if it is time for a national standard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, should the measles vaccine be mandatory across the country? Measles cases are now in 16 states and the District of Columbia. What is the best way to stop this highly contagious disease which spreads through coughing and sneezing?

Every state in the United States requires school-aged kids to receive certain vaccines. The differences are found in the types of exemptions allowed. All states allow medical exemptions. All two states allow religious exemptions.

At least 20 allow secular exemptions which mean a parent can opt out of exemptions because of personal or philosophical beliefs. Dr. David Kimberlin is a pediatric infectious disease specialist joining us from Birmingham, Alabama. Good to see you, Dr. Kimberlin.

DR. DAVID KIMBERLIN, PRESIDENT, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE SOCIETY: Thank you, Ms. Whitfield. Good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so as long as people are allowed to opt out of measles vaccines in some places, will this spread ever be stopped or contained? KIMBERLIN: No. The predictability with which a measles epidemic, for instance, will occur when enough people opt out or do not get their children immunized is a very sad fact that we're facing right now and clearly we're beginning to see that with what started at Disneyland and now is spreading across the country and across national borders down into Mexico as well.

WHITFIELD: So do you think as a result of this now, we talk about starting in California and then spreading now 16 states and the District of Columbia, does there need to be a national standard as it pertains to measles vaccinations? Who should get it and when, et cetera?

KIMBERLIN: Well, I think that what we need to do is a really good job of explaining why people need to get the measles vaccine. It is a safe vaccine, highly effective vaccine, a vaccine that has saved millions of lives and kept millions more children who would have had permanent brain damage, for instance, from measles from ever having that, living out full and complete lives because they were vaccinated.

So I think if we explain carefully to people all parents love their children, all people want what's best for their children, this is not only about helping that individual child of a particular parent or particular family, but it's about protecting all children, all of the most vulnerable among us.

WHITFIELD: So perhaps you heard Lindey Magee, who joined us earlier, who talked about why with one of her children, who is 14, fully vaccinated except for the TDAP and then for her 6-year-old, she opted not to have her vaccinated for most things except for the Hep B.

And she said in large part because the scheduling in her state is just too aggressive, more than 50 vaccinations, inoculations at any one time under a certain -- within a certain age group and she thinks that's too much and that's why she and maybe a lot of parents like her, are saying they're opting out of measles and other vaccinations.

They just think it's too much for these small bodies. What do you say in response to that because that's a very common response and concern?

KIMBERLIN: Well, vaccines are safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines save lives. That's the most important message to convey. In order to get a vaccine on to market it is tested in tens of thousands of people and once it's being used throughout the United States the effectiveness as well as any kind of risks or adverse events associated with it are monitored carefully by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups as well.

So we have a very, very good understanding of just how safe these vaccines are and I think the fact that none of us have ever seen measles or few of us have is a testament to how effective they are. But in order to maintain that, people have to keep getting the vaccines.

And these vaccines have been tested in the ages that they're being given. So if someone defers getting a vaccine when they could have had it at 12 months of age for measles as an example, and they decide to get it at 24 months of age, that means they've lived another year of their life at risk of a deadly disease.

WHITFIELD: And then Dr. Kimberlin, before I let you go, if you can respond to one other thing that Lindey Magee brought to our attention, she thought that perhaps this spread is in large part because of adults who may have received the measles vaccination when they were young people and that their vaccine, the protection has waned and they, too, would be potential carriers.

Is that true and, B, is it the case that even adults who may have had it as children need to get a booster somewhere in their life span so they continue to be protected?

KIMBERLIN: If someone has had measles in the past, documented case of measles disease, they will not get it again. It's lifelong immunity. If they've had two doses of the vaccine in the past they will have lifelong immunity to the disease itself.

We learn this in the 1989/1990 epidemic where tens of thousands of children and some adults as well had measles, some died from measles, that something we want to not happen this time. We want to stop this while we can. The best way to do it is to get two doses of this safe and effective vaccine. It will save lives.

WHITFIELD: A fascinating conversation. Dr. David Kimberlin, thanks so much for your time from Birmingham. Appreciate it.

KIMBERLIN: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, water rescue teams on alert in Washington, as mudslides and flooding forced residents in some areas to evacuate. We'll have that and another weather threat for the northeast, next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Buying a home used to mean hiring a licensed real estate agent and visiting place after place after place until you found the one you loved. Thanks to technology, buyers can now browse real estate listings whenever and wherever they want.

DOTTIE HERMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DOUGLAS ELEIMAN: At least 85 percent of all consumers search, go online, before they actually buy anything and well before they're ready to buy.

QUEST (on camera): Today, even with technology, red tape and paper abound, the transform of real estate will take it all online. That's the vision of Square Feet, an internet based realtor.

JAMES SIMPSON, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, SOFT: We've streamlined the process so you as the seller would download the app, you take pictures of your home and once you're finished, it takes, you know, five or six minutes to create a listing, it's going to be cleaner, simpler and faster. QUEST (voice-over): And it's cheaper too. List your home with a traditional agent and you pay 6 percent commission. Do it yourself with Square Feet and pay 1 percent. That's a $25,000 savings on a half a million dollar home. The question for the future is whether people really will want to do it themselves?

HERMAN: I wouldn't mess around trying to take shortcuts with a big investment like real estate.

QUEST: Technology may not put the broker out of business, but it does let us decide whether or not we need one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A pretty wild night of weather on the west coast, flooding in Washington State, hurricane-force winds in Nevada, and this incredible dust storm in Reno, zero visibility on the roads, causing several crashes there.

And then there in San Francisco, the same storm band also cut power to nearly 70,000 people. Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera joining me now, it's a mess out there. We've been talking about the east coast for the past two weekends and now it's the west coast.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And by the way, still more snow in the northeast. Hurricane force winds, Category 4 hurricane-force winds, 134 miles per hour. That is some serious winds.

And that is coming down the mountainside, which is why we were so high, and all part of the same system that has brought the torrential rains, from half a foot to as much as a foot in Honeydew, California.

We're going to continue with very heavy rain over the next few days. Why? We are locked in. This is what we call the pineapple express. It's not just the hash tag for the Twitter, it's actually a thing. The reason we call it that, we get this tropical moisture coming all the way from Hawaii.

And when this sets up, basically what happens is, we get a series of lows that come in, one after the other, after the other. We are right now seeing one moving into the Pacific Northwest, but I'm more concerned about the next one.

Because I think this one, look at this, kind of banding setting up like that. That is indicative of strong winds, potential hurricane- force winds once again for friends along the coast. That's a big deal. Look at the potential rainfall.

This is additional rainfall from the foot we've gotten. Anywhere from 4 to 6 inches to as much as 6 to 10 inches in the higher elevations and the northeast, you probably would like us to forget you at this point, because then we wouldn't be talking about weather but more weather and more snow. And look at this. Once again, we have areas here by the time we get through Tuesday, this will come into series as well as through tonight, and especially heading into Sunday and Monday, 12 to as much as 18 inches of snowfall.

I don't know where they're going to put the snow. They have run out of space at this point here in the northeast. But they'll have to figure it out.

WHITFIELD: I know. It's amazing that in some places they do have these snow-melting buildings. That's fascinating, but with this kind of accumulation --

CABRERA: Those will be an overdrive.

WHITFIELD: Yes, overdrive, indeed. All right, thanks, Ivan. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it.

All right, with the rise of cell phone cameras and dash cams, even plane crashes are being caught on camera more than ever before. Next, we take a look at what investigators can learn from these incredible pictures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We now have more incredible video of that deadly Taiwanese plane crash that shocked the world. This time it's the aftermath. A trapped passenger banging on the window minutes after a TransAsia Airline 235 plunged into the river. The person is believed to have survived.

As for the investigation, we're hearing instead of shutting down the failed engine, the crew may have shut down the working engine. But as tom foreman reports, video of the crash may be a crucial piece of the puzzle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The number of stunning, horrifying plane crashes caught on video has risen sharply in recent years, giving investigators a powerful new tool when planes go down.

For example, when this Air Asiana jet crashed in San Francisco, video showed it touching down way too short of the runway. When this cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan, a dash cam captured the final moments as the plane went nose-up and fell back to earth and exploded into a ball of fire.

That video quickly pointed investigators to a possible cause. Steve Chelander, the former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

STEVE CHELANDER, FORMER MEMBER OF NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: First thing that came to mind to me, the airplane was over gross weight or overloaded or the load was not balanced. Because it looked like the airplane was struggling to fly. FOREMAN: And the idea that this heavy military equipment broke loose inside the plane remains under serious consideration even as investigators continue to scrutinize that video, frame by frame. While experts say video evidence must always be paired with other findings, sometimes it shows what is otherwise hard to know.

Did a wing break off? Did a plane bank too sharply, or was the crash deliberate and if images from outside are helpful, images from inside are even more so. This video shows the final moments of the small plane in Idaho.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember hitting the trees and it sounded like rapid-fire, gunfire, it sounded like.

FOREMAN: Nobody died, but it was more evidence in favor of cameras in the cockpit. Something federal authorities have wanted for 15 years.

CHELANDER: The NTSB would like to see video recorders just like cockpit voice recorders, part of every commercial aircraft.

FOREMAN (on camera): Still, the explosive growth in cell phone cameras has dramatically increased the chances that any accident might be recorded. After all, those same cameras account for about 200,000 new photos on Facebook every minute.

(voice-over): And it all matters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something is wrong!

FOREMAN (voice-over): This is one of the earliest moves of a fatal air crash from back in 1931, and even then it was clear, any images of an accident while in progress can make a huge difference in figuring out why it happened.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)